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Paris (AFP) – The Paris Stock Exchange was up (+0.64%) on Thursday, driven by the technology sector and the announcements, in line with expectations, from the American Federal Reserve (Fed) on Wednesday.
The CAC 40 star index took 45.65 points to 7,122.58 points around 10:15 a.m. Since the beginning of the week, the Parisian place has been treading water, waiting for announcements from central banks.
As expected, the US central bank raised its overnight rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, a less vigorous increase than the previous ones.
We observe “the beginning of disinflation”, declared the president of the institution Jerome Powell, while warning that at least two other rate hikes were possible this year.
The New York Stock Exchange welcomed these announcements on Wednesday, especially the technology sector, whose benchmark index, the Nasdaq, jumped 2%.
Thursday is the turn of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England (BoE) to meet to decide on the evolution of their monetary policies.
Both institutions are expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point and markets will watch for any hints of the next steps in the credit crunch.
“The question is whether Christine Lagarde (President of the ECB) expects another cut of 50 basis points in March,” notes Neil Wilson, analyst at Finalto.
In Frankfurt, the Governing Council of the ECB will study the latest inflation figures in the euro zone, which fell more than expected in January to 8.5% over one year.
But this improvement is deceptive because “core” inflation – excluding energy and food – has at the same time remained at 5.2% and “should remain stubbornly high in 2023”, warns Fritzi Köhler -Geib, chief economist of the public bank KfW.
“The ECB will want to see a lot more evidence that core inflation is slowing before it pauses” in its rate hikes, Neil Wilson said.
Record year for Publicis
The global communications giant Publicis achieved a “new record year” in 2022, with sales up 20% thanks to investments in data and strengthened profitability.
Its action rose 5.71% to 70.28 euros. Oddo BHF analysts underline in a note a growth in turnover “better than expected”, proof of the “resilience of the Publicis model” despite “a still difficult economic environment”.
Dassault Systèmes does better than expected
The French champion of 3D software for businesses saw its net profit climb by 20.4% in 2022, to 931.5 million euros, with turnover up 17%, in line with its objective.
Analysts hail higher-than-expected revenue growth and encouraging prospects. The title jumped 4.17% to 35.69 euros.
Towards a Casino-Teract rapprochement
The two companies present in the food distribution sector confirmed, Wednesday following the closing of the Stock Exchange, to have engaged in “exploratory discussions” with a view to bringing together Casino’s distribution activities in France with Teract.
Casino shares rose 3.39% to 11.88 euros and Teract 4.04% to 6.72 euros.
© 2023 AFP
